Some thoughts on NUS Conference

This year's NUS was my first as a delegate as part of Student Respect.

Student Respect came out of NUS Conference with Rob Owen elected to the NEC, and Dan Swain elected to Steering Committee. Assed Baig very narrowly missed out getting on the NEC, but gained a fantastic vote for National Secretary (193), our biggest ever result.

We were a very visible and bold delegation which was leading the left-wing opposition on conference floor on varied issues: against means tested grants, against the "no holds barred" governance review, against equating anti-zionism with anti-semitism, and of course, against the 'war on terror' and the carnage that has been inflicted on the Middle East.

We were proposing a whole new vision of how NUS should be run: a political, campaigning and fighting union -- one that is against Bush and Blair's war drive that costs billions and the slashing in funding in our education system in the form of top-up fees and the associated marketisation of student life.

We proposed to follow the model of French, Greek, Italian and Chilean students, who organised effectively to win the fight against neoliberal reforms by occupying their universities and taking part in mass protests, and uniting with other workers on issues like the French CPE unemployment law.

This proved to be an effective strategy -- and they won on the key issues they were fighting for. Our national union on the other hand, proved itself not to want such action. Instead of supporting a national demonstration, which last year proved to be successful despite the rather small numbers (and which Student Respect was central to mobilising for), Labour Students as well as the Organised Independents faction, consistently voted down and shamefully argued against any real action against top-up fees and the marketisation of education.

They proposed "creative campaigning" which mostly seemed to involve lobbying and talking to "key MPs". Imagine if the Stop the War Coalition decided to do the same around an attack on Iran!

As in national politics, it is up to Student Respect to provide a left-wing pole of attraction that the current leadership does not provide. Labour Students and those in the Organised Independents are digging their own graves -- there was a right-wing faction at Conference which wants NUS to be "Not for Politics, Just for Students", and the leadship's proposed governance review will allow this faction to gain more influence.

Only those who stand for real, principled politics can save NUS -- and it is clear that Labour Students as well as the Organised Independents around Gemma Tumelty cannot do this. They are too tied to interests of Blair and the neoliberal establishment. This link means that they become timid and refuse to fight on the key issues that affect students -- and allow our union to be turned into a bureaucratic arena in which they can further their own careers.

It is up to Student Respect to break this link, and turn NUS into a fighting, radical union on war and the marketisation of student life.

Student Respect will be back at Conference next year with an even bigger and bolder delegation, where we will build on the huge gains we have made at only our second intervention at NUS Conference.

SWSS Film Showing: The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Thursday 8th March, at (NOTE NEW TIME) 3.15pm in the Hub, Guild of Students.

Set during the Irish struggle for independence from Britain, the Wind that Shakes the Barley (directed by veteran British film maker Ken Loach) is an important film for socialists and those seeking to resist imperialism.

The film tells the story of two brothers who become part of a small group of Irish Republican Army activists, and charts the separate political avenues down which they go -- ultimately ending in tradegy.

The film, describing the colonial occupation of Ireland by the British Empire, clearly has resonances today, with the imperialist occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan.

Accepting the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Loach said:

"Maybe if we tell the truth about the past, we can tell the truth about the present. ... The wars that we have seen, the occupations that we see throughout the world -- people finally cannot turn away from that. It's very exciting to be able to deal with this in films, and not just be a complement to the popcorn."

Refreshments will be provided.

GUILD ELECTIONS

Student RESPECT stood a number of candidates for positions in the Guild elections.

John Cooper stood for President, gaining 370 votes, with the incumbent, Darran Martin, winning with 1002 votes. This was a good performance, as we gained over one third of the incumbent's vote, who was standing effectively on a slate which had huge support. Given the fact that we stood for this position on a political platform too, this was an encouraging result.

Ayisha Khan deserves special congratulations and thanks for her fantastic result for Campaigns: she got 417 votes against the winner's 552. Again, this is highly encouraging, and shows that students are interested in campaigns around issues like the occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan, Islamophobia, and the marketisation of student life under New Labour.

Both of our candidates for NUS have been delegated: Marcia Banasko and John Cooper. It is vital that NUS becomes a fighting national union that is opposed im practice to war and the neoliberal attacks that we face.

Read on below for more information about Student RESPECT's intervention at NUS.

NUS NEWS

Student Respect is launching a challenge to the stagnant leadership of the National Union of Students.

This is set to change the face of student politics.

At last year's national conference, Student Respect shocked the NUS leadership when Suzie Wylie was elected to the part-time executive with the fourth highest vote out of twelve positions – ahead of the traditionally dominant "Labour students" candidates.

This year an even bigger shock could be in store with Student Respect candidates contesting four of the six full time positions in the national leadership at the forthcoming annual conference (to be held in Blackpool on 27-29 March 2007). Rob Owen, Assed Baig, Clare Solomon and Siobhan Brown will form the spearhead of a challenge that aims to drive real, radical, activist politics into the heart of the NUS.

Assed is a Muslim activist who made the national news last year after being expelled from his FE college for political campaigning.

This is the start of the battle against the NUS leadership to win an anti-war, anti-racist national union, committed to the fight against Islamophobia and for free education.

"For far too long the National Union of Students leadership has been less a general staff for the student movement and more a nursery for New Labour careerists – those days are drawing to a close," says Respect MP George Galloway.

"The thirst among students for radical politics is evident from the huge meetings the anti-war movement and Respect have had this academic year – in many colleges the biggest political meetings anyone can remember.

"That spirit is, via little noticed elections for delegates to the NUS conference, reaching into the parched recesses of the official student movement.

"Those who try to sell bankrupt Blairite policies to a generation who are rejecting them are heading for a major upset, just as the author of those policies visibly fades by the hour."

It's time to stand up. It's time to fight back. It's time to start winning.

VOTE Student Respect – Peace, Justice, Equality AT NUS CONFERENCE 2007!

[from www.respectcoalition.org]